After the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in 1941, the women and children of the ex-patriot British and Dutch communities are incarcerated in a remote prison camp, where they must endure harsh conditions and brutal captors.

The years since World War Two have seen numerous attempts to dramatise the
situations faced by British Prisoners-of-War, most of which have focused on
German-run camps. A few have portrayed life as captives of the Japanese, notably
The Bridge over the River Kwai (d. David Lean, 1966) and King Rat (d. Bryan
Forbes, 1965). But the experiences of non-combatants, particularly women, have
been largely overlooked. One noble exception is Tenko.

Tenko (Japanese for 'roll-call') creator Lavinia Warner began researching
Japanese PoW camps for an edition of This is Your Life (BBC, 1955-64; ITV,
1969-94; ITV, 1994- ) and, later, an Omnibus documentary (BBC, 1967- ). The series traced the
lives of a group of disparate British, Dutch and Australian women from their
largely comfortable, complacent existence in Singapore, through the shock of
Japanese invasion, to their internment in a remote, inhospitable prison camp.
Later series saw the women marched through hostile jungle to a second camp.

Whereas the all-male PoW narrative is preoccupied with notions of individual
and collective heroism, military discipline and the duty to escape, Tenko's
female-dominated narrative stressed interpersonal issues - co-operation,
friendship and mutual support; divisions of class, nationality and race - and
subjects traditionally excluded from male narratives, including motherhood,
female identity, sexual vulnerability (and, more contentiously, sexual
manipulation) and the pain of separation from loved ones.

But despite the symbolic potential of a situation in which women are
subjugated to an absolute male authority, Tenko was not overtly feminist. The
camp inmates are diverse in background and by no means united in their responses
to each other and their circumstances. The British leader, Colonel's wife Marion (Ann Bell), urges consensus, collectivism and co-operation to win
concessions from the stern but 'honourable' Commandant Yamauchi (Burt Kwouk).
But her approach is challenged by the more authoritarian instincts of Dutch
leader Sister Ulrica (Patricia Lawrence) and camp doctor Beatrice (Stephanie
Cole); by the selfish individualism of the disaffected Dorothy (Veronica
Roberts), who turns to prostitution with the guards after losing her husband and
baby; by the stubborn class and race prejudice of General's wife Sylvia (Renée
Ascherson); and by the impetuousness of Cockney Blanche (Louise Jameson).

Hugely popular, Tenko pulled few punches in showing the women's brutal
degradation at the hands of Japanese guards and the combined assaults of
disease, malnutrition and a hostile climate. A postwar follow-up, Tenko Reunion
(tx. 26/12/1985) collected some of the survivors for a murder
mystery.